Sunday, June 23, 2024

Back to Basics: Don’t murder a quotation!

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Gem State Patriot News (blog) there is an article (post) by John Livingston on June 17, 2024 titled Back to Basics. His third and fourth paragraphs are:

 

“Let me start this series with a quote from Fr. Robert Sirico the founder of The Acton Institute and a Catholic Diocesan Priest:

 

No civilization in the history of the world has survived or flourished without a religious foundation (even in Pagen and non-Western cultures—jml). Nor have classical great liberal thinkers neglected the spiritual nature of man. From the writings of the scholastics to the eighteenth-century British economists, they have always discovered a linkage between faith and freedom.” [- and economic liberty].

 

John murdered that quote. He got Who right, but not What, When, or Where. Of course Pagen should be Pagan. The quote comes from an essay titled The Moral Basis for Economic Liberty that can be found at The Heritage Foundation on July 13, 2010. It really says:

 

“No civilization in history has survived or flourished without a religious foundation. Nor have great classical liberal thinkers neglected the spiritual dimension of man. From the writings of the late Scholastics to 18th century British economists, they have always discovered a linkage between faith and freedom.”

 

There is no “of the world”, and it says “dimension” not nature. And “classical great” should have been “great classical.” It also has a qualifying ”late” before scholastics, and “18th century” rather than “eighteenth-century.”   

 

Back on January 21, 2024 I blogged about Ten quotes to motivate speaking in public – five of which are incorrect and explained:

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“For a well-researched and real quotation, we can definitively describe (as shown above) Who said it, What he said, When he said it, and Where he said it.”

 

A murder cartoon was adapted from this one at Wikimedia Commons.

  


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